A Winnipeg woman has become an internet sensation after a video of her playing a piano on a New York City street went viral.
Tatyana Smolyaninov, a teacher at Gray Academy of Jewish Education, was in the Big Apple in June for a school workshop. She went to take a break and decided to go out shopping.
As she was checking out different stores in the city, she saw a piano just sitting on the street. She walked over to it, and could not help but tickle the ivories.
“I see this piano on the street, just on the street. People were just standing around, so I asked whose piano is this? Can I play?” she said.
Smolyaninov jumped on and started playing. As she did, a crowd gathered around her.
“People were cheering and people were clapping,” she added.
An onlooker captured the whole thing on camera and the video was posted online. Three months later, the video has almost two million hits.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Smolyaninov said. “I didn’t do it for it. I just did it, you know, just to have fun.”
Since she was young, the piano was always part of Smolyaninov’s life. Every time she saw one, she had to play.
Originally from Ukraine, she moved to Winnipeg in 2007.
Now as an elementary school teacher, her passion for music has become part of her lesson plans.
“I play piano and songs that we learn. I always play and kids sing,” she said
Because there have been so many people fascinated with her performance in New York, Smolyaninov is now inspired to take her piano skills further. Doing what? She said her online audience will just have to wait and see.
